Sketches

Start right before you get eaten by the bear

Maverick

03 May 2023 — 1 min read

Very often, I delete the first paragraph when I write. It takes me a bit to warm up. Usually, the good stuff starts to come out after a few contextual sentences that establish a starting point for my mind to think and develop the story. But, more often than not, this contextual information is boring and could be skipped.

This relates to "Start right before you get eaten by the bear: Why you should avoid backstory scope creep." A good story should get interesting right away. If you talk too much about the context: how you got there, how you spend the previous day, what you had for dinner, and only then get to the core of the story - your listeners will be bored. So you need to cut the empty calories and get to the part where you get almost eaten by the bear.

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How to Escape the Toxic Trap of Comparison

When abstract thinking falls short

Build your castle

Do you need an alarm clock?